Taylor Swift is great but ‘her music is not my kind of music’

Josh Hutcherson covers the latest issue of GQ Hype (British GQ), and it’s more like a checking-in kind of profile. He’s working a lot these days, and people are remembering how much they love him because of his role in I Love LA, playing Rachel Sennott’s boyfriend. He also had success in Five Nights at Freddy’s, and he’s probably going to appear in the Hunger Games sequel. I didn’t realize that Josh hit pause on a lot of things post-Hunger Games. He went offline in a big way, no more social media, no more reading about himself either. He went to therapy and started taking better care of his skin. He’s now 33 years old and he still has anxiety and he still doesn’t want to be on social media, but he’s doing a lot better. Some highlights from his GQ interview:

The constant scrutiny of being famous at such a young age: “You are always being watched. You’re potentially always being recorded and photographed, and those things directly impact your career and what roles you get. So… you’re aware of it.”

Skin trouble: “I have rosacea, so I get red and flushed very easily if I’m in the sun, even if I have a hat and SPF 4,000. I get acne breakouts, and that’s not cute. I’m a shorter guy, too. You’re aware of your weak points.” In the spotlight, “you’re on display for people to look at and judge, and they will say those things. They will find those insecurities and throw them in your face.” His best defence was avoidance. “I would hide behind: ‘I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care.’ Because I didn’t want to look at my own taste, you know what I mean?” And if you didn’t care – say, if you didn’t look in the mirror – then it wasn’t your problem in the first place.

Therapy: “I’ve started to really open up about it in therapy and talk about it more directly, as opposed to having fake confidence, but really you’re dying on the inside. I’ve kind of been embracing, like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m insecure about that. I feel that way. I don’t like that about my body. I think I’m unattractive in that way.’ And pointing at it and looking at it. That’s something that I’ve started to really grapple with in the last year.” For Hutcherson, it’s been “scary” to “admit things about yourself that don’t feel cool to admit, but I think it’s the only hope that we might have at overcoming them or embracing them in a way that makes them not paralysing.”

He’s not a Swiftie but not a hater either: “I got some heat because I did a photo shoot with Jordan, and Jordan asked me something about being a [Taylor Swift fan], and I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m definitely not a Swiftie,’” he says. He meant it as neither judgement nor critique. But on the internet, simple, honest opinions about the type of music you like are not allowed. “All of a sudden it garnered this, ‘F–k him! He’s a monster! Destroy him! He’s short! He hates her because he’s short!’ [He is 5ft 5in.] “It’s just like, whoa! I think she’s great. Her music is not my kind of music. That is why I don’t want to be online. I don’t need that energy,” he adds, of internet idolatry.

On the politics of the Hunger Games franchise: “Look, [that series] is not going to change the world. I think it’s a tool – of which there are many – a warning about giving government too much power and control. About not standing up against authoritarians. About stripping away civil rights, human rights. Being an American right now, it’s like… what the f–k is going on?” The US, in his eyes, has “lost its way in so many ways. The fact that we’re at ICE raids in the streets and funding wars… The fact that there are a lot of Americans who support it – and many more who don’t – makes you feel like an alien in your own place. It’s like, how are we allowing this?” You made a movie about it, I offer. “We made a saga about it,” he says.

[From GQ Hype]

He makes so many references to his height, so much so that I double-checked it – he’s 5’5”, which isn’t THAT short. Tons of ladies love short kings too! I’d rather be with a short king with a great personality than a tall douchebag. Anyway, it’s good that he’s in therapy and that he’s getting a lot of it. The Taylor Swift stuff is… unsurprising. The Swifties swarm just as hard as the Beyhive. People are allowed to not really give a sh-t about Taylor Swift either way.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of GQ Hype.